The Troubling Thing about Teams
by Laughing Jackdaw
Summary: Minato is having 'personal problems' and is unwilling to share them with his team. Of course, his trio of young chuunin does not take well to being ignored. Battle-plans, dinner-plans, espionage, stalking - has Team Yellow Flash ever been capable of normal means of communication or team-bonding? Kakashi certainly doesn't think so. (Pre-Gaiden)
1. Prologue - Small oddities

**A/N: Hello everyone!**

**I know I probably shouldn't have started another multi-chaptered fic when I haven't gotten around to posting new chapters of 'The Pack', but I simply couldn't help myself with this one. After all, _Team_ Yellow Flash needs more love, especially in the light of the latest Naruto-chapters. I am planning on writing five chapters of this ridiculous story, and sincerely hope you'll enjoy this little side-project of mine. Have a nice day~!**

* * *

**_Prologue - Small oddities_**

When Kakashi arrived at the arranged meeting place, his teacher was already there.

Sitting on one of the wooden training-posts in the middle of the field, Minato-sensei was swinging his legs in an almost childish manner and continuously kicked the metal plate that was nailed to the training post in order to protect the sturdy wood from overzealous practisers of Tai-jutsu.

For a minute, Kakashi just stared. It was one thing that Minato-sensei had arrived before him, but it was another thing entirely that Minato-sensei looked seriously _spaced-out_.

Though it wasn't that odd for the blonde man to be a little flaky at times, Kakashi couldn't help but think something was a bit off about him.  
He couldn't exactly pinpoint what would be wrong about Minato-sensei kicking his legs though; the man was prone to behaving child-like, so this was nothing out of the ordinary. Yet, Kakashi felt slightly uncomfortable.

With a shake of his head, he squashed his uneasy feeling, slightly exasperated with himself for feeling it in the first place.

Suddenly, Minato turned his head and looked at him, having sensed his arrival: "Kakashi!"  
The blonde man was _late _noticing him, Kakashi realized – he should've picked up on Kakashi's chakra signature minutes ago, when he first arrived at the training grounds. The young shinobi's suspiciousness rose slightly.

Minato smiled brightly and waved at him in greeting, looking as cheerful as ever. The grey-haired chuunin just sighed and stepped out of the shadows to join his teacher in the middle of the training field. "Minato-sensei," he said gravely, "you're early."

His monotone comment did nothing to dim the sparkling of Minato's blue eyes, "You're early, too. You're always early, and that's why I decided to keep you company today! After all, what kind of teacher would I be if I let my precious students wait for me?"

Kakashi leaned against the wooden post his teacher was sitting on and looked up at the older man, his eyebrows raised in some kind of sardonic expression, "Ah. So you do have an ulterior motive."

Somewhere in the trees, a crow cawed.

Minato smiled down at him, "Not everybody has ulterior motives for everything, Kakashi. Sometimes, a little kindness can be given without being expected to be returned." He grinned brightly.

"That's what they all say." Kakashi replied with a shrug.

Before Kakashi could start lecturing the man about the One Hundred Shinobi Rules of Code and Conduct, Minato had started kicking the metal plate again, silently dismissing his student.  
The observant child noted that the plate was already dented and was forced to conclude that Minato's feet had been swinging around for a while, most likely with excessive force. The steel had been replaced just last week, Kakashi knew, and the dent in the metal perfectly fit the outline of Minato's still moving heels.

For a moment, Kakashi wondered if Minato-sensei felt agitated about something. He furrowed his eyebrows into a familiar scowl, trying to figure out the mystery that was Minato Namikaze and his swinging legs.

So far, Minato seemed pretty normal. The man's exterior appearance seemed fine: hair messy and fair (as always), face clean and shaven (as always), some dirt underneath both fingernails and toes (as always), an additional but roughed up bandage around his knuckles (from early training, Kakashi figured), old jounin-vest with extra pockets (which was Minato's usual attire), the metal plate of the headband slightly rusted at the edges but still rather shiny (as always), Kakashi did not discern anything out of the ordinary.

He focussed on behavioural tics – Minato swinging his legs (small oddity), smiling (as always), faraway look on his face (small oddity), tapping fingers rhythmlessly (odd), not talking to him (odd), blinking too rapidly (odd), meditative breathing (small oddity).

Though some things didn't add up, Kakashi couldn't figure out just what _was_ wrong with the man through observation.

After a few minutes, the kid inwardly shrugged, and started mentally assessing his surroundings, mapping out different strategies to trap the area in such a way it would be likely for Obito to fall for one.

He heard Minato sigh again. When he looked up, the blond was frowning at him, "Kakashi, leave Obito be. We can't have you guys fighting all the time, and it would be great if you would stop provoking him."

Oh, right.

Kakashi had totally forgotten about Minato's ability to see right through him. The man really did always know it when he was having even _slightly _sadistic thoughts.

Unlike Jiraiya-sama, Minato never had literally tried to beat his cruel (but practical!) tendencies out of him, so Kakashi plainly remarked, "If Obito would keep his temper in check and would be on time for once, I probably wouldn't feel the need to teach him a lesson concerning the consequences of being a late cry-baby idiot."

Minato's stern expression did cause Kakashi to bow his head; in hindsight Minato's disappointment was worse than being thrown off a cliff. The boy averted his eyes, a little ashamed, "He just needs to learn to control his emotions, you know that. It would benefit the team, and this way I get to practice installing different kind of traps, so we all get something out of it." Kakashi refused to admit he was being harsh on his often-obnoxious teammate.

Minato, knowing this was the best he was going to get from Kakashi, pinched the bridge of his nose. Being a teacher was tiresome, even on good days.

After a minute Kakashi spoke up again, "What will our mission be today, Minato-sensei?"

"I'll brief you when the others arrive, Kakashi."

"Okay."

They were silent. Kakashi looked at his nails, pondering. Minutes passed and he asked: "If Obito still hasn't arrived within fifteen minutes or so, can I trap the path near those two oaks?" Never mind that Rin still wasn't here either, Kakashi just wanted to do _something_ already and Minato-sensei's leg-swinging was getting on his nerves.

Minato didn't answer, instead sporting an empty-minded look on his face, and Kakashi wasn't sure whether he'd been heard or not. After a while, the young shinobi considered waving a hand in front of Minato's eyes to see if his teacher was still with him.

Before Kakashi could ask Minato which fascinating universe he was visiting inside his head, Rin arrived. Kakashi decided to keep his mouth shut, opting for suspiciously narrowing his eyes and glancing at his teacher instead.

"Good morning, Minato-sensei, Kakashi." The brown-haired medic said.

Kakashi nodded at her and mumbled something that sounded a lot like: 'Goodtoseeyou.'

Rin's entire face seemed to light up, and Kakashi wondered just why she would smile at him like that; it always freaked him out a little and Obito would often glare at him for no obvious reason afterwards.  
At first, he'd thought Rin smiled at him in that cheerful way of hers because she was making fun of him, but after a while, he found out that that certainly wasn't the case, and now he was a little at loss. He guessed she was just happy to see him, but she was happy to see Obito too, though she never smiled at Obito the same way she seemed to smile at him.

Stopping this particular confusing train of thoughts, Kakashi snapped his fingers to get Minato's attention. The man was still staring off into space – which was seriously something out of the ordinary, because the blond was the most perceptive man Kakashi had ever known in his short existence, and he'd basically grown up among legendary ninja.

The teacher blinked sheepishly when Kakashi literally snapped him out of his reverie. It took Minato a considerable amount of time before he acknowledged Team Yellow Flash's only female member, "Oh, good morning, Rin! I take it you've been resting well the last few days?"

Kakashi almost huffed at this; had Minato-sensei rested well was the bigger question at the moment. And he was still obnoxiously swinging his legs._ 'Why is he doing that, geez?'_

Rin nodded in reply and went to sit down in the grass next to Kakashi. She made a short-lived attempt at small talk to which the grey-haired boy replied with monotone single-syllabled words such as 'No.' and 'Hn.'

When Minato's foot hit the post with a sickening 'thud' – which caused the metal underneath his heels to actually crack - Rin raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. She looked at Kakashi with questioning eyes, realizing Minato-sensei was not being his usual bubbly self, and Kakashi subtly shrugged as he shook his head.

If sensei didn't share, they weren't to pry in his business.

Silence fell over them once again. Kakashi didn't voluntary use words, Minato-sensei was off in his own little world for whatever reason, and Rin was wondering just what was going on. It was uneasy. They waited for Obito to arrive.

In the end, Kakashi did put up some traps in the area surrounding the oak trees; Kakashi got Rin to help him string some wires (under the guise of having to practice individual skills together). She seemed happy at his offer and had watched in awe as he explained how to properly hide metal wires in the grass. As the grey-haired shinobi discreetly peered over at the blonde man atop a training post, he noted that Minato hadn't noticed his attempt at cleverly disguised disobedience at all.

The young student sighed quietly.

After an hour Obito finally arrived, tumbling straight over the wires Kakashi and Rin had strung to trip him.

Like a shark smelling blood, Kakashi was onto him. Insults, and the One Hundred Shinobi Rules of Code and Conduct left his his mouth easily. Usually the grey-haired boy had trouble voicing his thoughts, but when it came down to giving Obito a verbal smack down, there was no end to the possibilities. Kakashi planted down his foot on Obito's shoulder blades and shifted most of his weight onto his heel, which was conveniently positioned on the spine, to keep the other boy from getting up.  
From this vantage point, he could give Obito the perfect condescending glare. He could see Obito's blood start boiling as the boy's face reddened, felt his teammate tense and coil underneath his foot, and he was sure the waterworks would start soon.

He felt slightly disgusted by the so-called elite Uchiha – riling the older boy up was just too easy. He'd really have to work on that. At telling Obito as much, the dark-haired kid really did start crying. All Kakashi could do was roll his eyes and comment on that too, "Twenty-Five, Obito. Don't forget Shinobi Rule number Twenty-five. Do you have tears for brains or something?"

Kakashi risked one glance at Rin and Minato-sensei. The medic was tense and thoroughly uncomfortable, wordlessly asking Kakashi to stop before Obito snapped. It was most likely she felt rather conflicted about having helped him setting up the traps that caused Obito's literal downfall, Kakashi concluded from Rin's near-constant fidgeting.

Obito needed to be less emotional and Rin less indecisive, Kakashi decided, and he made a mental not to work on that too.

Minato-sensei didn't even seem to have noticed the building tension.

After a while, the grey-haired boy slowly removed his foot from Obito's back, feeling slightly less peeved after having taken out his frustration on his older teammate. The Uchiha scrawled upright immediately, angry, embarrassed, shouting, "What the hell is wrong with you, you bastard!"

"Nothing is wrong with me, wimp. It's your temper that's off-balance. I'm helping you practice keeping it in check, even though you don't seem to be getting the point of Shinobi Rule number Twenty-five."

Obito wiped his eyes furiously in reply; "I can't help getting angry when you _degrade me like this!" _Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Obito continued heatedly, "And seriously – this was a low blow, even for you! And you're not helping at all! You're just being an arrogant jerk and you're not my teacher and not my superior and you're not helping at all-!"

"You said that already."

"- You're never of any help! And I don't want your help anyways! You're stupid, too – jerkface!" As Obito raged on, Kakashi's attention was diverted elsewhere. Minato-sensei hadn't called them out yet, nor shot them icy or hopeless looks for their un-teammately behaviour.

Kakashi glowered.

In Minato-sensei's stead, Rin had come over to stop the dispute between her teammates. Kakashi couldn't care any less until Rin tried to hold his hand, catching him off guard with the sudden physical contact. Kakashi glared at her and retracted his hand as if burnt by her touch.

"What has gotten into you?" The young medic asked him, "You're very prickly today." She seemed properly worried and met his glare head on. Her mouth curved disapprovingly – or was it worriedly? – and she grasped his hand again, not letting go this time. Kakashi looked away, the trees in the distance much more fascinating than brown eyes staring him down.

As if Rin's concern was a cue, Obito became worried too, "Is something wrong, Bakakashi?" The Uchiha was blinking way too rapidly, probably blinking away fresh tears; the dark-haired boy readjusted his goggles to cover it up. It didn't matter, Kakashi had noticed the liquid anyways, but for once he did not say anything about it. "I told you I'm fine." Kakashi grumbled, "But I know for sure that Minato-sensei isn't, now."

Rin bit her lip and Obito seemed confused, "Huh? What are ya saying exactly? This is a very lame excuse for being very cranky, and I know _a lot_ about lame excuses… Though I've never made up excuses for being cranky… Hmmm…"

"Listen, something has been off about Minato-sensei this morning. I'm not sure what's up though, so I decided to stage this fight to draw him out: usually he would have broken up our fight before I would've gotten the very chance to dig one of my heels into your back, Obito. Minato-sensei didn't react – still hasn't reacted, actually – and therefore, something must be wrong. Very wrong." Kakashi finally said.

Rin nodded thoughtfully, "He does seem a little spaced out…"

Obito laughed and Kakashi glared at him. This wasn't a laughing matter. The young Uchiha grinned brightly, tightening the knot of his hitai-ate as he said, "For a moment, I thought you were truly out to humiliate me, Kakashi!"

"I am always out to humiliate you. Today, I just exaggerated a little, for the sake of our team." Kakashi considered laying a hand over his heart in a mock-gesture of kindness, but Rin was still holding it like a vice.

"Hey, that's- you mean-? You-!" Obito growled, realizing just what Kakashi'd said. He shook his fist menacingly. Rin grabbed his wrist, "Guys, stop it." and her words were final, though Kakashi did roll his eyes in exasperation. The medic changed her grip to hold Obito's hand and she stood in-between them like a referee.

They lapsed into a tense silence. Much to Kakashi's dismay, Obito started pouting. "So," The goggle-wearing kid said, "What are we going to do now?"

"I don't know." Kakashi plainly stated, "Now that we've confirmed that Minato-sensei's more flaky than usual, we'll probably just get our mission and never find out what's keeping him occupied. Unless we can come up with a plan to coax answers out of him, of course."

Obito hummed in thought, closing his eyes in concentration, trying to formulate a plan, "I can't think of anything though…" He purposely ignored Kakashi's judgemental sigh.

"Maybe we should just ask him?" Rin suggested as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.  
Which it probably was.

Even so, Kakashi shook his head, "He won't answer. I mean, I haven't tried that yet, but it's not like he'll just tell us what's going on. He's a ninja, he's not supposed to do things straight-forwardly."

"We can try, Kakashi." Rin said with a slight smile, "After all, not everyone avoids answering questions like they are, uhm, supposed to do according to the Rules."

The grey-haired student sighed deeply, again, growing tired of his teammates' ignorance and apparent lack of common knowledge, "I happen to know that Minato-sensei has made an art of sidestepping unwanted questions – But by all means, go ahead and try. I'm sure he'll tell you all about his personal problems." Kakashi wrenched his hand from Rin's grip and crossed his arms in defiance.

Rin seemed a bit taken aback at his sarcastic remark, but Obito wasn't even listening anymore; halfway through Kakashi's story, he'd stopped paying attention to them and had started staring at their teacher, wondering what could be going on. He narrowed his eyes speculatively and carefully watched their teacher, much like Rin and Kakashi had attempted before him. And then he'd run off.

The goggle-wearing kid was already on the move. "Hey, sensei! What's wrong with you? You're spacey! What's wrong? What's wrong?"

Kakashi hung his head in defeat. Now, he would never get his answers. Rin sighed sympathetically, "At least he's trying…"  
"Trying and failing miserably you mean." Never again would Kakashi reveal his thoughts to Obito. The guy was bound to screw up, seriously. (Far away, that crow was cawing – laughing! – at them).

Kakashi mentally prepared himself for the mission; it was going to be awful, he was sure of it. Rin laid a careful hand on his shoulder as he stoically rearranged his thoughts, and together they joined Obito, who was still violently questioning their teacher, who was – just as Kakashi predicted – dodging every single question aimed at him with the ease of a professional liar.

He still looked dazed though.

Kakashi didn't like it at all.


	2. Ch 1 - Against all Odds

**Chapter one - Against all Odds**

The mission ended up taking much longer than it should've been according to the description. The delay was not caused by sudden complications, such as unforeseen enemy intervention, but rather, it was because Team Yellow Flash had gotten lost on the way home.  
Apparently, Minato's dazed mood had lasted all week and thus caused him to lead his cute little chuunin into the wrong direction for two weeks straight.

Usually 'getting lost with Minato-sensei' meant that Minato would actually take his team to the beach, the hot springs, or some kind of festival festival in order to spend some well-deserved quality time with his students. This time around, 'getting lost with Minato-sensei' meant that they'd gotten lost _for real_, in the highlands at Konoha's most eastern borders.

The highlands were rough, uninhabitable, wet, and windy: camping had been no fun at all and the single responsible adult of the team had been of no help. Actually, aside from holding the map upside down multiple times and rationing the food, he'd neither done nor said anything of value. (Even so, the blonde man still was expert in dodging any questions concerning his weird behaviour, much to the chagrin of his three young charges).

The days had been cold and the nights colder; they'd stayed warm only through Obito's fire-jutsu and upbeat personality (when he wasn't being shot down by Kakashi, that is).

As soon as the team set foot in Konoha, they split up. Minato went to the Hokage to report, Rin went home to take a shower, Obito went home to sleep, and Kakashi went home to fill out the paperwork that came with being late, which was graciously dumped on him by his teacher, accompanied by the words: 'I gotta report in. You'll do it, right?' The man was gone without as much as a 'well done team' or a 'see you later'.

Two days later, Minato didn't show up at training. He didn't show up the next day, or the day after that either.

Obito, Rin, and Kakashi practiced a little by themselves. They sparred some and they wrote new explosion-tags together. Obito screwed up the seal once or twice and almost ended up blowing off his own hands, which resulted in a very worried Rin and a very exasperated Kakashi.

On the fourth day, Minato did come by, but all he did was tell them they had the week off. He was gone immediately afterwards. Obito was a little undignified by the fact that Minato had been four days too late to announce training was put off; Kakashi promptly accused him of being a hypocrite.

Rin met Minato at the market two days later, but he'd swept past her like he had not noticed her at all. Kakashi had had a similar experience at the bookstore and wondered if there were new tensions between Leaf and Rain, as it would be a likely cause for Minato's odd behaviour; Kakashi then pulled the team (minus Minato) together and told them not to slack off.

Besides, Kakashi reasoned, Minato might come up with a mission for them next week, so they'd better be prepared anyways.

The next week, Minato cheerfully told them to continue training without him.

This time around, he gave them a valid reason: he needed to meet up with some of his old jounin-friends and would not have time to train them. Obito'd called it a bullshit-reason and Minato had scolded him.

Kakashi looked properly tired of it all and promptly left the training-fields, mumbling something about the Summoning Jutsu and wanting some time to himself (as if he hadn't been the one that had bullied the other two into training the past week and was a victim of their very presence).

That evening, Rin went home with a sinking feeling in her stomach.

_'Minato-sensei…'_

* * *

"Whaddaya mean, Rin?" Obito asked her again, "I still don't understand what you're implying…"

"I'm _saying_," Rin told him, "that I think it we should try finding out the reason behind Minato-sensei's absence, and then remedy whatever it is."

"Like, we should _kill_ the cause of Minato-sensei's absence?" Obito stated rather confusedly. Rin nodded bemusedly and gave him a quick smile, "Yes, kill it, dead. Then he can come back and train with us. What do you think, Kakashi?"

She turned towards her other friend, her brown eyes sparkling with expectation.

Kakashi was not half as pleased as she was when she tried to get him involved.

He deadpanned: "It is a bad idea. To be honest, I'm not sure if I heard you right because I wasn't really listening, but killing Konoha-jounin without an order is considered treason by law (see Shinobi Rule Nr. 37 for reference) and Minato-sensei will probably skin you if you attempt to murder his friends."

Obito sighed and muttered, "Killjoy."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at him, "Rather a killjoy than a traitor, thank you very much, Crybaby." Obito stuck out his tongue, and they lapsed into a tentative silence. A crow landed on one of the training-posts not far away from their spot, and cawed blithely.

The three young members of Team Yellow Flash were sitting in the shade of the old oak-trees on their appointed training field. Obito was busy trying to lodge some of his shuriken free from the bark in which they were stuck, and Kakashi was carefully polishing his white-bladed tanto with his own, personalized whetstone.

Rin sat in between them, her hands clasped together as she explained the things that had occurred to her last night. She looked at Obito, whose full attention was aimed at her, and then at Kakashi, who couldn't seem to care any less about them.

The brown-haired girl exhaled through her nose, "Do you really believe Minato-sensei just wants to 'hang out' with his jounin-friends? He never has ditched training with us before, notwithstanding the one time he caught the flu and had to stay in bed for two weeks. It's just that I'm a little concerned something is bothering him, you see?"

Kakashi shrugged and tried to catch the sunlight in his white, polished blade.

To Rin it seemed obvious that he was having trouble believing Minato's excuses as well, but struggled with the fact that a commander's words were supposed to be pretty much final.

Obito opened his mouth to say something, but the medic quickly signed at him to stay quiet just a little longer. Questioningly, the dark-haired Uchiha raised his eyebrows behind his orange goggles, and he shut his mouth with an audible click. She mouthed a quick apology to him in reply, and he nodded, although he didn't quite seem to grasp why she'd hushed him.

Obito, and with him many others, did not understand that Kakashi sometimes needed more time than his peers to process his thoughts when it came down to non-shinobi-related subjects. Rin, however, was aware of this particular quirk, and she was pretty sure Kakashi wanted to say more. She waited patiently for his continued response.

Meanwhile, Obito was biting his lip to keep himself from talking. He truly was doing a remarkable job of staying quiet – Rin would have to compliment him on his personal control later today, she realized. He was improving.

At last Kakashi said, "Well, sensei has to keep up his popularity _somehow_. After all, he is all wrapped up in Inter-Village Politics, meaning he has to stay in touch with a lot of people even though he doesn't have a lot of time to spare; one does that via socializing and making schedules, which could be translated into more simplistic terms such as: 'hanging out with random people who seem to like you.' Aka: 'hanging out with jounin-friends instead of us, whom he sees every day'."

Then he added with finality, "Or he could be on some kind of A-ranked mission we are not supposed to know about. Either way, we will be on our own this week – again. It doesn't matter."  
He sheathed his tanto and rose to his feet, "Are we going to train yet, or can I go home already?"

Rin bowed her head in defeat. Kakashi was not going to aid them in their search for the things that troubled Minato, even though she'd counted on his help. He had convinced himself that it was not necessary and there would be nothing that could get him off track when he was like that. She lamented the loss of her plans, experience telling her that no amount of pleading would bust Kakashi's newfound, ironclad resolve.

Her cheeks burnt slightly as blood rushed towards her face, though she tried to alleviate it by breathing rhythmically in meditative pattern. Although she was a realistic person at heart, she had hoped that Kakashi would've at least acknowledged her reasoning, which he hadn't. A dark part of her mind told her that he must think her stupid, and insecurities gnawed on her insides.

Living with a crush was rather hard, more so because the boy she liked had set extraordinary high standards that only exceptional ninja could meet. She harshly breathed out.

And then Obito grabbed her attention by incidentally nicking his thumb on the stuck shuriken. He yelped loudly, and finally exclaimed, "Ouch! But we can make a training-exercise out of it!" Rin could see tears stinging in his eyes, and she felt a rush of affection for him.

Rin looked up, her hopes suddenly rising, "Say that again!" and she leaned over towards him to take his hand in her own, "But first let me heal you."

She wiped the small scratch clean with her thumb and trickled green-glowing chakra into it, healing the cut immediately. The brown-haired girl gave Obito's hand a squeeze when he stuttered, "W-we can practice spying by following Minato-sensei and staying unseen, I guess? Then we will capture two birds with one stone, that being finding out what is troubling him, and training ourselves, right?" Obito wouldn't meet her eyes, probably embarrassed for god knows what reason. The Uchiha got flustered by about everything, so Rin didn't pay it any heed.

Kakashi turned around slowly, as if doing so took an enormous amount of effort, and placed a hand over his hitai-ate in a motion that suggested utmost weariness. "You really think you can outsmart _Minato-sensei?_" He suggested mockingly.

Rin knew what was about to happen, and for once, she let upcoming disagreement run its course. Something in the tone of Kakashi's voice was sure to provoke Obito, which would only make the dark-haired boy cling to her cause. In turn, that would aggravate Kakashi, which could only lead to a) an annoying argument, b) convincing Obito even more, or c) convincing Kakashi.

Rin smiled brightly at the Uchiha. She had forgotten that Obito was surprisingly good at using reverse psychology and making Kakashi realize things, even though he never had realized these particular qualities himself.

Obito, encouraged by Rin's beautiful smile, reacted heatedly at Kakashi's cold words, "I don't think I can outsmart him, I know I can! Because I am Obito Uchiha, the most talented member of this team!"

Aside from being a talented speaker, Obito was a very talented bragger as well. Rin had to stifle an amused laugh.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "Right."

His ego had been bruised, so he followed up with an insult, "If with 'talented' you mean 'dumb', then I'd agree with you. So far, you've been nothing but a dead-last to me."

"You arrogant jerk." Obito said, "This isn't about you, can't you see that! This is about Minato-sensei!" He adjusted his goggles and pointed at his and Rin's joined hands, "And if you won't help us find out what's wrong with him, then we will do it on our own! We don't even need your help!" He looked at Rin, "We can do it, together." And he blushed, obviously moved by his own speech.

His voice sounded warm and hopeful, and Rin couldn't help but think that he'd been telling nothing but the truth, although the probability of them finding out what was troubling Minato-sensei on their own, together, wasn't all that high. Whether they – or Obito – liked it or not, they would need Kakashi's help with this.

"Without me, you'd be dead." Kakashi stated coldly in reply to Obito's supposed verbal-victory, and he tilted his head arrogantly. The sun shone harshly, his silvery fringe casting odd shadows over his face, "Don't deny it. Without my expertise, Minato-sensei will catch you within a minute. You just lack the subtlety needed for this mission."

"Really?" Obito replied harshly, "And yet you won't join in!"

Kakashi hn'ed at him in reply, not caring for Obito's opinion in the slightest.

Suddenly, the young Uchiha started laughing as if he'd found a hidden, long-sought-after treasure. His dark eyes sparkled in delight, "Oh! Oh!" He turned to Rin and whispered rather loudly, in a conspiring tone of voice: "Maybe Bakashi is just too scared… Scared of getting caught by Minato-sensei, and that's why he won't even take the risk… Like a Scaredy-cat! Ha!"

Rin frowned at him, "That's not a nice thing to say about your teammates, Obito…" The dark-haired boy recoiled at this, "A-ah. I-I'm sorry!"

"I'm not a coward, Crybaby!" Kakashi said undignified, obviously having overheard Obito's not-so-subtle whisper. Obito had stepped on his pride, and now he was forced to defend himself.

"Then help us!" Rin piped up, knowing exactly when to get involved in the conversation, "We've gotta do this with the three of us!"

"Fine." Kakashi stated gravely, "I'll help you guys out; for Minato-sensei's sake. On the condition that I get to be the captain of this mission, of course."

Obito almost shouted 'Who said you could be captain?' but Rin interrupted him before he insulted Kakashi away, "We've got a deal. Let's do this, Obito, Kakashi."

She stuck out her hand and waited for her two oddball friends to put theirs on top, like the team they finally were. Uchiha and Hatake glared daggers at each other before grudgingly placing their hands on hers. Rin could hear Obito growl slightly at his grey-haired teammate and she saw Kakashi's shoulders tense in withheld anger.

Well, even if the two boys kind of hated each other, Rin was sure they would be able to find out what in the world was wrong with Minato-sensei. She smiled happily to herself.

_"Just you wait, Minato-sensei! Team Yellow Flash will come to rescue!"_


	3. Ch 2 - Odd Jobs (part one)

**Chapter two - Odd Jobs (part one)**

The next morning, Obito was late only by five minutes. The young Uchiha himself considered this a small, merciful miracle, especially seeing he'd managed to sleep through his alarm this morning. He'd just swallowed the last bite of his breakfast when he arrived at the meeting spot in front of the bench near Field Thirteen.

He ran towards his teammates, who were already waiting for him as per usual, and waved his arms in cheerful greeting, "Good morning!"  
Rin waved back with a blinding smile on her face, and Kakashi checked his pocket watch again with a surprised tilt of his head that made Obito feel as if he'd won a prize in a lottery; surprising Kakashi wasn't something he did often.

The brown-haired girl patted Obito on the back when he halted next to her, "Obito! Well done!" She was happy to see him and particularly glad he wasn't all that late today. Obito grinned at her, blushing slightly at the compliment, and he rubbed the back of his head, "Ya really think so, Rin?"

The medic just smiled at him, her cheeks rosy and her eyes sparkling, and Obito's stomach made happy cartwheels at the sight of it. Now the dark-haired boy was sure of it – today would be a beautiful, perfect day. Nothing would be able to ruin this morning! The sun was shining, they were going to find out (and possibly kill!) whatever was bothering Minato-sensei, and Rin was showing honest signs of appreciating his company (which was, to Obito's modest opinion, preferable over Kakashi's very presence).

And then the aforementioned obstinate Hatake decided to open his mouth, unaware of the fact that he was about to shatter Obito's fleeting moment of joy: "At least you didn't make us wait for hours, but still… – _you're late." _

"I overslept, okay? Everybody has flaws." Obito said as he puffed up his chest, silently proud that he hadn't rescued the cat stuck in a tree or helped an old lady cross a street, which he would have done were it an ordinary day. Today, he'd made sure nothing would prolong his arrival this time. This was a special occasion.

Kakashi shrugged patronizingly, "You've got many flaws and being terrible at timekeeping is one of them. Furthermore, you shouldn't have overslept in the first place. You're a shinobi, you're not supposed to do that."

"Kakashi," Rin called him out politely, "Lets not insult each other for once, all right? We need to work together to get this to work out." She locked eyes with Obito, and he nodded vigorously in agreement. She was right, Kakashi was a jerk at heart but he would have to play nice today.  
They'd have to work together like a well-trained team of chuunin, which they incidentally were. If that meant trying to be more understanding of Kakashi's weirdo thought-process in Obito's case, then Obito wouldn't hesitate to do so, even if it was difficult at times.

Kakashi gave a curt nod as he agreed with the brown-haired medic. Rin smiled in delight at his stoic reaction, her white teeth showing and her eyes lighting up like stars. Obito felt a wave of envy hit him hard; he glared subconsciously at his grey-haired teammate, who answered his frown by raising his eyebrows at him in mock-confusion.

Obito pushed away his jealousy towards Kakashi and willed himself to focus on the main topic of today, "Well, what's our plan?"

Kakashi sat down on the bench behind him and took a scroll from his pouch, "Yesterday evening I did some research and made up a plan of attack." He held up the unrolled scroll to show his teammates a schematic map of Konoha.  
Kakashi had coloured several roads with blue ink, some places had been circled with red ink, and there was an occasional circle in black,

"The blue lines represent roads and routes Minato-sensei is most likely to use, the red spots are places he'll most likely visit with friends, and the black circles represent places he often visits on his own."

Rin stared in awe. Obito gaped at the scroll, "When-? How-? How did you get this?"

"I made it myself." Kakashi said, wanting to get his strategy across, "As I was saying-"

"Kakashi, how do you know all of this?" Rin asked, her voice laced in adoration. She was impressed. Obito surely would've been awed as well if it wasn't for the fact that Kakashi had drawn them _a map of Minato's_ _daily routes in life_, because apparently, Kakashi Hatake had dedicated time to finding out the places Minato-sensei would pass by often.

"I knew it!" Obito shouted before Kakashi could reply, sudden realization dawning upon the young Uchiha: "I knew it! You are a stalker after all! You creep!" The goggle-wearing boy pointed his finger accusatively at his grey-haired teammate.

Kakashi seemed rather insulted, "What the-? Stalker? _Me_?"

In the distance, a craw cawed as if laughing at the scheming team. Its cry echoed in the air, accentuating the perplexed silence Obito's comment had caused.

Rin stared at Obito with a strange expression adorning her sweet face, "…"

She clearly was missing the point, so Obito helpfully explained, "Kakashi's a stalker, can't you see it? I'm not sure if you know this, but he always is able to actually find me whenever he's looking for me, has observed me in my own home that one time when I was late four hours, and now we've got actual proof lying right in front of us: he's got a map – which he drew himself! – of Minato's most frequently used routes and such! I'm pretty sure he's following us around whenever he's not training or something!"

Rin looked at Obito as if he'd grown a second head. At last she exclaimed angrily, "Obito! How dare you say such things about your friends!" Her fists were clenched in pure outrage.

Uh oh.

Obito hadn't realized he'd been offensive, but now that he thought a little more about what he'd said, he suddenly realized that he'd been incredibly, awfully rude. He took a few steps back, tears already burning in the corners of his eyes, "A-ah… I didn't mean for it to sound so… _mean_? I-it was just an observation, that's all!"

"You do realize your attempt to slander my name is neither subtle nor founded on actual logic, right?" Kakashi drawled incredulously, probably both offended as well as taking pleasure from Obito's pain, "As for why I would follow any of you around, I would not know; you aren't even moderately interesting."

After a beat, he said, "I'm _not_ a stalker, Obito, just stop accusing me of being something I am not. You guys asked me to prepare a plan of action and therefore, I send out my pack of hounds to retrace Minato-sensei's steps. We simply need this information, otherwise we will fail for sure."

"Geez, Obito," Rin said, still a little aggravated with the dark-haired boy, "I understand that you're worrying about Minato-sensei, but can you please get it together? We need to keep our minds clear and rely on our teamwork, just like we did when we managed to steal the bells off Minato-sensei during the Bell-test."

Obito nodded, defeated. Humiliation burned his cheeks and he tried to blink away the tears that stung in his eyes, "I get it."

Rin shot him a quick, forgiving smile, "I know you do."

They lapsed into an almost awkward silence that lasted until Kakashi cleared his throat and said, "Anyways, we should move on. Crybaby, did you bring the Wireless Radio I told you to get?"

Obito mumbled that he wasn't a crybaby as he pushed up his goggles to wipe his eyes and handed the mask-wearing stick-in-the-mud the three devices he'd borrowed (stolen)from the Uchiha-Police Station next doors.

"Hm. Well done." Kakashi stated, looking them over, "What's their range?"

"They've got a two-kilometre radius each." Obito replied officially, feeling his sense of self-worth returning slowly, "It's the newest model used by the Special Forces!" Only a great ninja such as him would've been able to get his hands on these awesome radios!

"Perfect." Kakashi said, and he nodded approvingly, "With this we should be able to execute my plan perfectly."

"Listen, we'll split up, though we should stay within contacting-radius in order to keep in touch. My dogs should've found Minato-sensei by now, meaning we can use his exact location to start spying on him." Kakashi pointed at his map, "Obito, you will stay closest to Minato-sensei; you will report his movements through the radio. Rin, you will stay in the back, where you'll stay more covered. Am I clear?" Kakashi asked with the air of a commander.

Obito and Rin nodded, and Kakashi continued, "Great. Once Minato-sensei meets up with anyone, be it jounin-friends or others, you should be more careful: that's where this map comes in. Using this, you can predict Minato's next steps – which means that you will not have to follow him all too closely, which lowers the chances of us getting caught."

"Rin, you're the best coordinator – you get the map and will guide Obito through the streets if he manages to lose sight of Minato-sensei." Kakashi stated. He placed the scroll in Rin's hands and she cradled it to her chest.

Obito pouted a little – he could've come up with this half-assed plan himself.

"Wait up, Kakashi…" Rin said uncertainly, "So far, this plan will be carried out by the two of us. Where are you going to be during all of this? I thought you'd do more than just set up plans…"

"Tch. Let me finish before asking questions... As I was about to say, I will be checking out Minato-sensei's apartment in order to gather clues." Kakashi told her, "And that's also why you won't be following Minato-sensei just as closely as Obito will: even if he moves too far away for my radio to receive signal, you will still be able to contact me, which is very important."

"Ah, okay." Rin said, avoiding Kakashi's dark eyes and toying with her hair, "I think that's a great plan." Again, Obito felt a stab of jealousy, especially seeing the strategy didn't seem all that impressive at all.

"So," the young Uchiha started, "If one of Minato-sensei's acquaintances seems to be causing him trouble, we'll take him or her out, right?"

Kakashi looked up and squinted his eyes at him in annoyance, "No, of course not."

"Eh? But I thought we were going to save Minato-sensei today!" Obito exclaimed, thoroughly disappointed in his teammate's tactical skills.

"Is it just me, or are you getting more stupid the more you talk?" Kakashi remarked (and as if on cue, a crow's cawing could be heard again), "Right now, our main objective is finding out what's troubling Minato-sensei. After having acquired more information, we can start planning our next step."

That – actually made sense. Obito pouted. He'd kind of wanted to disagree with his teammate…

"Wait," Rin's voice snapped Obito out of his reverie, "What if Minato-sensei finds out you were in his apartment?" She addressed Kakashi.

The young Hatake had started preparing the Wireless Radio and shrugged, "First of all, you guys will warn me when he goes home, and if he finds out I broke into his room I will probably lie to him – I've already prepared an alibi in case one is needed."

"Wait," Obito exclaimed, "What if Minato-sensei finds out me and Rin are following him?"

"You're an expert in making excuses." Kakashi said, "Make something up. If you can't, just tell him you were training – he can't accuse you of lying when you are telling the truth."  
Obito nodded sagely, trying to cover up his humiliation of not having thought of that himself, "I knew that. I was just testing you."

"Sure." Kakashi said monotonously, and he tossed Obito and Rin the radios, "Put them on – we should be on the same wavelength. Be watchful of any member of Police Force; we wouldn't want them to catch our signal."

Rin and Obito nodded, "All right."

Obito could feel the familiar sense of anticipation and determination take hold of his mind. His stomach clenched and his heart beat faster, excitement rushing in. He was going to save Minato-sensei, if not today, then tomorrow.  
He grinned brightly and adjusted his goggles in a confident motion, "Let's do this, Team Yellow Flash!" He pumped up his fist. It earned him a giggle from Rin and that was all the motivation he needed to do his utmost best on the job. Kakashi sighed deeply, but he too shot Obito a quick – although slightly begrudging – smile underneath his mask.

In the distance, five dogs howled simultaneously. Kakashi whirled around, "That's our sign, my pack has found Minato-sensei. He just left his flat and is walking towards the marketplace."

Obito met Kakashi's dark eyes when the young Hatake looked over his shoulder. The grey-haired boy told them, "We meet up at 1700 in front of Obito's place. Move out, Team."

Obito dashed off laughing, Rin right behind him, a blinding smile on her lips.


	4. Ch 3 - Odd Jobs (part two)

**Chapter three – Odd Jobs (part two)**

Obito and Rin followed Minato-sensei from a distance for about two hours straight.

During this period, the blonde teacher hadn't been doing anything out of the ordinary. He'd walked past the marketplace towards the Hokage Tower, and instead of walking down the main-road that led to the huge red main-building (which was what Rin and Obito had been expecting), he'd taken a sideways street to the left and sauntered into the direction of the dango-shop (which Kakashi'd noted as a place Minato would usually visit with friends).

Rin immediately told Obito to fall back a little in case they'd incidentally come across more jounin, which surely would lead to tipping off their position to Minato-sensei.

Obito took a more careful approach after this, though he stayed hot on Minato's heels. He hid behind trashcans and trees and people, all the while using a transformation-jutsu in case Minato incidentally spotted him. Rin was watching the pair carefully from above, hiding in trees and on the occasional roof, keeping her distance just as directed.

Every so often she told Obito to change his position when she noticed Minato was looking around, clearly searching for something or _someone._

Had their teacher noticed their presence? – Rin didn't think so, but she reckoned it wouldn't hurt to be extra careful in their approach.

Obito was doing a great job of being discreet. His henge was plain, forgettable even. His chakra-control was precise and from a distance, no one – not even experienced chuunin - would've been able to pick up on his presence. Rin had had to contact him twice because she'd lost sight of him and was unable to recognize him in the crowd.  
This left Obito feeling rather smug, receiving a huge ego-boost because apparently he was able to fool even the sharp-eyed Rin with his masterful spying-skills, which obviously meant that he was nothing short of truly awesome.

All in all, everything seemed to go pretty well.

Well, until Minato-sensei actually entered the dango-shop, that is.

* * *

Obito crouched low behind a bench, hiding behind two gossiping old ladies who had remained unaware of his unobtrusive presence so far.

He closed his eyes and wracked his mind to come up with a solid plan to enter the dango-shop without being noticed or found out. He picked up wayward twigs and snapped them in halves, trying to calm his fraying nerves.  
The young Uchiha was sure he was going to endanger their self-proclaimed mission: Minato-sensei wasn't stupid, and Obito knew he wasn't particularly gifted. Minato was bound to notice him if he went inside to spy on the man.

('_Snap snap'_ went the twigs in his hands. The old ladies had turned around and were looking at him as if he'd lost his mind, but he didn't really seem to notice).

Even though Obito was pretty confident in his abilities, he wasn't as vain as to think he could keep up appearances when up close with an actual jounin, especially one who was in tune with his chakra. Nope, there would be no way to stay in the blank in there…!

Obito gasped suddenly when another – terrifying - thought hit him, and his eyes grew wide like saucers.  
The dango-shop was a meeting-place.  
What if there were _more extremely perceptive, actual jounin_ inside?!

Obito bit his lip, feeling his heartbeat quicken, and he could hear the blood rushing in his ears. His stomach made sickening flips at the thought of going inside and spying on Minato-sensei.

(_'Snap snap'_ - "What an odd boy." "Are you all right, young man?" The old ladies said_)._

Sure, the young Uchiha told himself, Kakashi would go inside without hesitation. Obito stood up abruptly, intent on waltzing into the dango-shop without being afraid of getting caught. His sudden movement scared the old women, who had been regarding him with the concern of caring grandmas.

("Should we call the Uchiha Police Force? He's not responding – what if he's a spy?" They whispered among themselves before one of them uncertainly asked: "Are you an enemy of Konoha, little boy?" Obito didn't react. The two ladies shared a look before addressing him again: "Because if you are a foe, I think we should report you.")_  
_  
Obito took another step towards the dango-shop. It was that very moment he realized that he _wasn't_ Kakashi, that he wasn't even half as talented or arrogant as Kakashi, the stubborn prick, and Obito just couldn't follow through with his brave plan. He stopped dead in his tracks.

Kakashi Hatake would've done it, because Kakashi Hatake was bound to succeed. Obito Uchiha was not Kakashi Hatake, and unlike his prodigious teammate, he was bound to fail. After all, Obito Uchiha was a dead last.

Obito felt like punching himself for even thinking he could've just went in there without a solid plan.

The young Uchiha knew that comparing himself to his jerk-ass friend wasn't helping the situation at all; he knew that these destructive thoughts only served to make him feel more inferior, and more insecure, and more nerve-wracked than he already was, but he just couldn't stop himself from thinking them.

He tried thinking about something else for a while, but every time he took a breath or as much as blinked into the direction of the dango-shop across the street, he saw scenarios of failure unfold in his mind. Damn his non-existent skills of awesome, and damn his vivid imagination!

He let out a frustrated cry, and the old ladies who'd previously sat on the bench scuffled away, glancing nervously at each other.

Instinctively knowing that his hiding place was exposed from years of practicing his spying-skills in the Uchiha-district, Obito raced towards the corner of a block of houses not too far away. Even though he was currently crushing his own self-esteem with a metaphorical sledgehammer, the young Uchiha quickly did pride himself on the impeccable thoughtfulness of not leaving himself out in the open. He crouched behind the wall in such a way he could still properly view the small restaurant while staying out of sight himself.

He clenched his fists as he tried to come up with a sound plan, only to conclude that he didn't have the slightest idea of how to proceed - again.

He was getting anxious, he was going to panic, he was screwing up, and Kakashi was going to skin him alive if he gave up _now_. Much to his own dismay, he could feel his eyes start burning again, and when the first tear rolled down his cheek, he gave in to his feelings. So much for being a brave descendant of the noble Uchiha-clan!

He finally contacted Rin for assistance.

He was well-aware of the fact that she was keeping a watchful eye on him, and he felt a little safer when he switched on his own microphone: "We've got a problem, Rin. I just can't go in like this!"

Obito wasn't sure whether he was talking about his fraying emotional state, or the situation itself. It didn't matter – he just needed to hear Rin's voice right now.  
_  
Rule number twenty-five. Rule number twenty-five. Don't show emotion. Don't let emotion get in the way of the mission._ Obito felt like he could burst the more he thought of entering the dango-shop; the option of actually getting close to Minato-sensei in a closed space was freaking him out – he was not ready for this confrontation just yet!

… Spying was harder than anticipated, Obito finally realized, and he felt like crying, "Rin, Rin – Minato-sensei has entered the dango-shop!"  
_  
::I noticed.:: _Rin's voice finally came through the earpiece,_ :: What are we going to do?::_

"I dunno, I dunno," Obito whispered rather heatedly, "That's why I called you. You're smart."

Rin didn't seem to have noticed the compliment (and Obito berated himself for his bad timing).

However, Rin did say, _::Are you crying?::  
_  
"…No."

_::All right, I'm coming over to you to assess the situation. Stay put.::_

"Roger that. And thank you." The usually-dark-haired boy replied, slightly relieved Rin was there to help him.

At least he could always count on her, even when he was too nervous to almost even talk. Rin wasn't just a pretty face (even though she was pretty cute, Obito thought) She was clever, strong, determined, kind, and caring. She was like a candle in the darkest night.

And she always knew when something was wrong with him.

…Which probably was the reason she was coming down, he realized, and he felt a little guilty for making her break their careful formation.  
Yet, he couldn't care less as he just felt an enormous sense of relief strike him when she landed in front of him, "Rin!" He furiously wiped his eyes, trying to hide his tears from his friend.

"Ssshhh. Keep your voice down." Rin said, placing a finger on her lips, "We're in a tight position, we shouldn't attract more attention as it is."

Obito nodded and kept his mouth shut, his eyes focussed on his teammate as if she were the only thing that mattered in the entire world. The medic was talking to him in hushed tones, but he didn't really listen to her words, only wanting to hear the sound of her voice. It was calming him down.  
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, allowing Rin's soft words to was over him like a gentle waterfall. And then she snapped her fingers in his face to get his attention, "Obito? Are you all right?"

He'd completely spaced out.

In reflex, he jumped to his feet, asserting confidence he didn't feel: "Of course I am! I am Obito Uchiha -!"

Rin pulled him down again, hissing, "Quiet!" The young Uchiha realized what he was doing and nodded in shame, mumbling, "I'msorryRin."

She was regarding him with concern, "Are you sure you are feeling well…? Maybe you should go home to take some rest, I know you've been riling yourself up all day; did you even get any sleep yesterday night? We can contact Kakashi to tell him we're blowing this off. We can always try again tomorrow."

"No way!" Obito said, cringing at his own loudness, "No way! Kakashi's never going to let me live this down if I give up now! He'll never stop patronizing me!" He avoided Rin's eyes; the ground suddenly seemed incredibly interesting.  
He started fiddling with the collar of his shirt, not used to the fact that he was not wearing goggles today, and he tried his best to resist the urge to cry again, "I mean, I don't wanna let him down. I don't wanna let you down. I just wanna help Minato-sensei." He trailed off with a miserable almost-sob, unable to keep himself from crying after all.

Rin, noticing his distress, placed a warm hand on his shoulder, forcing him to look up at her. She was smiling down at him, bright and encouraging, "You're not going to let us down, I'm sure of that!"

She continued with a mischievous spark in her eyes: "How about the two of use entering that shop? I think I've got a plan to stay unnoticed."

Obito felt his lips move upwards in a genuine smile in spite of himself. When Rin balled a fist and said, "We're a team,  
Obito!" he was sure he'd never felt happier he'd met her. He grinned, wiped his eyes, and felt his vigour renew, "We're gonna do this!"

They rose to their feet, both eager to complete their part of their mission with success.

* * *

While Obito and Rin worked out their little problem, Kakashi had long since worked his way into Minato-sensei's apartment without setting off most of the traps.

It had taken him about an hour to figure where all the traps around the apartment had been hidden, then it had taken him yet another hour before he found a way around them – through the small kitchen window, which was just big enough for someone of his size to use as entrance – and then it had taken him at least forty-six minutes to replace the one trap he'd set off in his carelessness. It had blown up, right in his face, much to his surprise.

Kakashi knew he'd been lucky – had he not been blessed with genius reflexes, several senbon would've gauged out his eyes for sure. Worse was the fact that the trap had been a seal he'd not yet mastered, and the young Hatake had tried his utmost best to copy the intricate signs, chakra-structure, and position of the needles.

It had been meticulous work, and he'd almost considered giving up when Obito's smirking face appeared in his mind's eye. At that moment, Kakashi had never been more grateful for Obito's absence. The Uchiha never would let him live down this rookie mistake should he ever learn of it. Therefore, Kakashi proceeded, until at last, he could enter the small-kitchen window without a trace of having been near it.

Kakashi turned on the sink and scrubbed off the sealing-ink that had gotten onto his hands. He sighed and made a mental note: he really needed to talk Minato into allowing him to pass the traps freely with some kind of chakra-seal or something. The effort he'd had to use to simply get in this tiny apartment was ridiculous.  
He also reminded himself that he should forget to mention his disgruntlement with the traps; otherwise the man might grow suspicious.

Kakashi put on gloves and walked into the living room.

Minato's place was just as he remembered it: small, neatly organized, with framed paintings on the walls and flowers in pots on the table and windowsill. He sighed.

Time to get to work.

He started his search by reading Minato's mail, which laid on the floor in a discarded mess. Opening and reclosing letters had been one of the first lessons in the Academy, and Kakashi felt himself grow bored after reading through bill after bill after bill.

Maybe this was Minato-sensei's problem – _debts?  
_  
Kakashi rolled his eyes at the thought. It couldn't be, as the Sandaime Hokage always took care of the expenses of his close military officers. These bills were sure to be send to the Hokage soon anyways, and Kakashi turned away. He left the letters in exactly the same pile he'd found previously, leaving not a single sign of having ever touched them.

Next were the plants. Kakashi examined them thoroughly, knowing that Minato-sensei was a sensitive person and might take the inevitable death of his houseplants too close to heart, even though he was the greatest ninja he'd ever known.

The man could shred apart an army and tear down entire battlefields, but he also was a giant, soft-hearted wimp when it came down to any living being he'd claimed as _his. _Kakashi inwardly shuddered at the thought of being so attached to anyone or anything.

The young Hatake picked up the pots one by one, carefully, and sniffed the soil. He didn't detect anything that might endanger their lives, or the live of his teacher, and he put them down. After closer examination, he frowned and poured some of his chakra into the plants in order for them to grow strong and green, because for all he knew, Minato-sensei could leave on a mission soon and forget about them. His chakra would be undetectable anyways.

Kakashi looked behind the pictures on the walls, went through Minato-sensei's cabinets, his fridge, his books (most of which the content was rather surprising; Kakashi hadn't known his teacher liked adventure-romance-softcore-porn novels, and he wasn't quite sure what to do with this newfound knowledge), his pencil holder, his spare sandals, his kitchen utensils, analysing everything and anything that entered his line of sight.

Minato really needed to clean out his fridge and wash the dishes, Kakashi thought as he eyed the kitchen through which he'd entered.

Maybe that was the problem – _food poisoning_?

Kakashi shook his head. Rin would've known immediately if that had been the case.

After an hour, there only was one place left Kakashi had not dared to look yet.  
The weapon-cabinet.  
And Kakashi left it at that. There would be no way in the world Minato-sensei would not notice his meddling with his _weapons_ – the teacher was a ninja, one of the best, for god's sake! Kakashi didn't risk it.

After a while, he just plopped down on the ground, thinking. So far, his research had not tumbled up anything that might be the source of Minato's troubles, and he was getting frustrated. It wasn't often his intellect was challenged like this – Obito was too stupid and Rin far too agreeing, and Minato-sensei was just trying to hold him back – and he felt slightly lost, not used to not getting what he wanted.

As his heart rate sped up in silent frustration, he closed his eyes and forced himself to calm down by reciting the One Hundred Rules of Shinobi Code and Conduct in his head backwards, starting at rule One Hundred.

He'd only reached Number Fifty-Six when someone rapped the door of Minato-sensei's apartment. Judging by the amount of knocking the door received in that very moment, Kakashi wasn't the only one growing aggravated with Minato's odd behaviour.

"Minato! Open up! I know you're here, ya know!" The lady at the door was Kushina Uzumaki. Minato-sensei's over-the-top  
girlfriend.

Kakashi didn't react for a few seconds, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do.

"MINATO YOU JERK! OPEN THE DOOR! YOU CAN'T AVOID ME FOREVER! I'LL BREAK BOTH YOUR DOOR AND YOUR NECK IF YOU'RE NOT OPENING UP RIGHT NOW!"

Kakashi did what any sensible spy and burglar would do.  
He opened the door with an annoyed, "What is it? Minato-sensei's not home."

"Kakashi?" The red-haired woman blinked owlishly at him, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Training." Kakashi answered honestly, "What are you doing here?"

"Euh… searching your mentor, I guess?" She was at loss for words and stared at him with a fish-eyed look. He suppressed the urge to fidget under her intensely confused stare. Instead of twiddling his thumbs awkwardly like both Obito and Rin would've done, Kakashi shrugged, "Don't as me what you're doing here."

Kushina Uzumaki cleared her throat, "Can I come in, 'Kashi?"

Red flags went off in Kakashi's head: this woman knew of Minato-sensei's weaknesses, wanted to get into his apartment, and was angry, furious even, if her angered smell and flushed cheeks and previous screaming were anything to go by. And she'd called him _'Kashi_ – which definitely was a bad omen.

Kakashi's eyes widened as realization dawned upon him. Maybe this was the problem – _Kushina Uzumaki_.

Kakashi broke eye contact with Kushina, pondering. He knew that he would need more information before he – and Obito, and Rin – would be able to figure out just how to deal with the Red Hot Habanero.  
Killing her was not an option for sure, because she was Minato's future wife, and if Obito as much as suggested it, he would have to offer them an alternative plan.

Kakashi remained silent, calculating the risk of allowing Kushina inside. He opened the door slightly further to see her reaction, and she eagerly peered inside, obviously still on the hunt for Minato-sensei. The grey-haired shinobi narrowed his eyes.

The woman scratched the back of her head in a nervous motion as she caught his glare, "Kakashi, can I come in for a second?" She shot him a sweet smile, "Please?"

Her hands were trembling, as if she was holding in the urge to make a fist, and her gentle smile was twitching and slightly crooked. She obviously was faking her happy demeanour.

Kakashi regarded her coolly – _she most definitely has ulterior motives, don't trust her_ – before deadpanning, "No. I'm training and don't want to be disturbed right now. Go away."

He closed the door on her and continued the recitation of the One Hundred Rules in his head as his teacher's girlfriend broke down the hallway: "MINAAAATOOO – YOU SET YOUR STUDENTS ON ME, DIDN'T YA?"

The young Hatake heard her actually rip off the railing of the stairs with a terrifying crash, and he was glad he'd not let her in. He was glad Minato-sensei had not been home; this woman could've snapped Minato's neck with a hair flip, Kakashi mused, and just for a second, he was awed by Kushina's fierce strenght.

At this thought, Kakashi felt the chilling, familiar sensation of having encountered an enemy and needing to deal with it.

He'd found the prospective source of Minato-sensei's troubling mood, and if this matched Rin's (and Obito's) prospective findings as well, they would have a new target starting tomorrow.

The grey-haired shinobi escaped through the kitchen window after having checked the perimeters for one angry Kushina Uzumaki. The coast was clear, and he jumped out.

The window closed behind him innocently – he'd left no trace of his presence in Minato's apartment.

He grinned quietly as he ran across the streets towards Obito's apartment, aware of the fact that he would be early. Even so, his search had not been fruitless after all, and he mentally started planning his team's next steps.

Whoever was bothering Minato-sensei was _going down_.

Even if it was his very own, very scary girlfriend.


End file.
